Bobby Jindal to head Republican governors` body

Washington: Louisiana`s Indian American Governor Bobby Jindal is expected to become chairman of the Republican Governors Association next year to keep the potential future presidential candidate in the public eye, according to a media report.

Under an arrangement worked out by current chairman, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Jindal will chair the panel in 2013, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, another possible Republican presidential candidate, will assume the post the following year, local Times-Picayune reported.

The announcement was first reported Monday by CNN.

It signals that Christie, a first-term governor in a mostly Democratic state, will run for re-election next year. He was slated to become chairman in 2013, but clearly wouldn`t want to hold the post in the same year`s he running for re-election in New Jersey, the newspaper said.

f President Barack Obama is re-elected in November, running the Republican governors association would make Jindal and Christie key Republican players in articulating the Republican view on the president`s agenda during his second term, it said.

If Republican Mitt Romney is elected president, the Republican Governors Association chair likely would be policy advocates for the new president`s agenda, though the media profile would be lower than with a Democratic president and any presidential ambitions would be put off until 2020.

Previous heads of the Republican Governors Association, most notably Texas Governor Rick Perry and Romney, who served as Massachusetts governor, followed their leadership terms with presidential runs.

The Republican governors are expected to ratify the Jindal/Christie leadership roles at a meeting after the November elections. Under the arrangement, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will serve as Jindal`s vice chairman in 2013, and Jindal will serve as Christie`s vice chairman in 2014, Times-Picayune said.